The Mint report for 14 September 2009

NTPC has reacted strongly to a new move by Anil Ambani’s RNRL. On Monday, RNRL asked the Supreme Court to allow it to intervene in the gas supply case that it’s hearing between NTPC and Mukesh Ambani’s RIL. But NTPC isn’t happy. It’s saying its dispute with RIL is different from the gas supply dispute between RIL and RNRL. The company now says it will seek the opinion of the solicitor-general on RNRL’s intervention.

And while it fights its legal case, NTPC is also looking for coal overseas. The power company is considering a bid for a South African coal-mining firm in a deal estimated to be worth $1 billion. NTPC faces a huge shortage of coal for its plants but has a large cash reserve of Rs44,393 crore, which makes acquisitions feasible. More than 80% of NTPC’s installed capacity runs on coal.

Reliance Industries Limited says its new refinery in Jamnagar is running at close to full capacity of 580,000 barrels per day. The new plant is next to the company’s older refinery and together they make Jamnagar the world’s largest refining complex.

Healthcare chain Fortis plans to unveil its Rs1,000 crore rights issues by October. The rights issue has been ready since last year but got delayed because of poor market conditions.

Dr Reddy’s Laboratories has launched a generic version of a Novartis diabetes-fighting drug, in the United States. The company received regulatory clearance for its generic version of the Novartis drug Starlix last week.

Indian companies are moving away from follow-on public offers or FPOs to a newer method for raising equity. Qualified institutional placements or QIPs, may be only three years old, but they’re already becoming more popular than IPOs and FPOs. So far this year 24 QIPS have raised Rs17,454 crore, while eight IPOs, have raised just Rs9,678 crore. QIPs are private placements of either stocks or securities that are convertible to equity, by a listed company that has Sebi-approved qualified institutional buyers.

Markets lost ground on Monday. The Sensex fell 50 points to close at 16,214 and the Nifty fell 21 points to end trade 4,809